Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 29 January (HL13801), whether they plan to collect data on respiratory syncytial virus related hospital admissions of infants under one year old in weekly surveillance reports; if not, for what reason this data is being omitted.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Numbers of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) admissions in infants are reported by a sentinel network of approximately 15 to 20 National Health Service trusts in England to the Severe Acute Respiratory Infections-Watch Surveillance at the UK Health Security Agency. Participation in this surveillance is completely voluntary for NHS trusts. Therefore, the number of participating trusts can vary from week to week, and comparisons based on simple counts may be misleading.
To provide appropriate context for reported weekly data, weekly admission rates are calculated to monitor trends over time. This uses trust catchment populations published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, which are estimated for under five-year-olds, but which have not been estimated specifically for the under one year old age group, or infants.
Therefore, published rates are based on the available denominator data for the under five-year-olds, and these are publicly available in the national surveillance weekly reports and corresponding datafile at the GOV.UK website.
Further surveillance data and a programme impact assessment will be included in the annual surveillance report on RSV, due to be published in summer 2026. Please refer to the 2024/25 annual surveillance report for a summary of the previous winter season, which is available at the GOV.UK website.
Surveillance reports use hospital admission data and the Office for National Statistics’ mid-year estimates to model catchment populations for hospital trusts. Modelled catchment populations use hospital data, aggregated over three years and resident populations in five-year age bands.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to work with Young Lives vs Cancer to deliver the travel fund for young cancer patients.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department knows that the cost of travel is an important issue for many young cancer patients and their families across the United Kingdom.
Through the National Cancer Plan, the Government is committing up to £10 million a year to a new fund open to all children and young people in England with cancer and their families regardless of income, to support them with the cost of travelling to and from treatment. This commitment sits alongside wider action to transform cancer care for children and young people.
The Department has worked closely with the Children and Young People (CYP) Cancer Taskforce, to develop ambitious commitments on CYP cancer in the National Cancer Plan. The taskforce brought together experts across a range of fields to identify ways to improve outcomes and patient experience for young cancer patients and has been committed to ensuring the voices of key charity stakeholders and patients are included.
That’s why the Government assembled a Charity Sub-Group and Patient Experience Panel to ensure this expertise fed directly into the work of the taskforce.
The Government is committed to continuing its work with key cancer partners, including Young Lives vs Cancer, to deliver the commitments outlined in the National Cancer Plan.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether NHS England's forthcoming quality strategy will include a new model for financial incentives in the NHS, including specialised, secondary, primary and community care.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The new NHS Quality Strategy will build on the 10-Year Health Plan and Dr Penny Dash’s review of patient safety across the health and care landscape. The 10-Year Health Plan commits to using sharper financial incentives to deliver value and improve outcomes. We expect the NHS Quality Strategy will reference, alongside other interventions, how the Department and NHS England will develop these incentives to ensure they drive high quality care across the National Health Service.
Asked by: Luke Charters (Labour - York Outer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of support available to low‑income families whose children require prolonged inpatient neonatal and paediatric care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to tackling child poverty and to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. Our Children, Our Future: Tackling Child Poverty was published on 5 December 2025 and set out a goal to reduce and alleviate the impact of child poverty, with urgent action to improve the lives of children in deepest poverty.
We recognise the significant financial and practical pressures faced by low-income families when a child with a long-term condition requires hospital care. To support eligible low-income families with the costs associated with repeated or prolonged hospital stays, the NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme provides support with the cost of travelling to hospital appointments.
In addition, many hospitals work with charitable partners, such as Ronald McDonald House Charities, to provide free or low-cost accommodation close to specialist children’s hospitals, helping parents stay near their child during treatment.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2025 to Question 86092, how many claimants were awarded a payment under the Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme in each financial year since 2021-22.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority is the administrator of the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS). The following table shows the total number of awarded claims in each financial year since 2021/22:
Year | Total number of VDPS claims awarded |
2021/22 | 1 |
2022/23 | 72 |
2023/24 | 99 |
2024/25 | 55 |
2025/26 | 34 |
Total | 261 |
Note: Data for 2025/26 figure is accurate as of 6 February 2026. The previous question, answered on 28 October 2025, covered the period up until 30 September 2025. Some claims may be paid in a different financial year to which they were awarded.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that eligible women take up breast cancer screening in Sutton Coldfield constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Through our National Health Service screening programmes, we can reduce mortality and morbidity from cancer in the population who appear healthy and have no symptoms, by detecting conditions at an earlier, more treatable stage. Each year, over 15 million people are invited for screening, with over 10 million taking up the invitation.
In Birmingham and Solihull, between 2022/23 and 2023/24 there has been an improvement of 4.93% in breast cancer screening uptake in 53 to 70 year old people.
In Sutton Coldfield, the breast screening is offered to all eligible cohorts in line with service specifications of the NHS Breast Screening Programme. In this constituency, uptake and coverage are stable and constituents can access screening at both static and mobile facilities. There is a dedicated focus on reducing health inequalities, supporting access, and informing eligible patients to actively take up their screening appointment and offer.
The breast screening service in Sutton Coldfield is currently undertaking a targeted text messaging initiative targeting eligible patients that have not attended their screening invitation. This includes the offer to rebook their screening appointment and a link to bilingual breast screening videos to support education and awareness. A follow-up text message survey is also being used to explore barriers to attendance and motivating factors, with insights informing ongoing service development.
Other initiatives to increase uptake in the area include:
a dedicated general practice toolkit to support and inform health promotion messaging;
a breast screening resource pack for care homes to support staff in promoting screening awareness and facilitating uptake amongst eligible residents; and
a cancer bus initiative promoting a range of services including breast cancer screening.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to HCWS1271, what metrics his Department uses to measure geographic inequalities in cancer diagnosis, treatment and survival; which regions perform worst on early diagnosis and cancer outcomes; whether he will bring forward interventions to targeted the worst performing areas; and how his Department monitors and reports steps it is taking to help reduce such geographic disparities.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department monitors geographic inequalities in cancer diagnosis and treatment through the NHS Cancer Waiting Time Standards, for which data is published at integrated care board and provider level. The NHS England Acute Provider Table for all 134 providers supports this transparency.
Early diagnosis is monitored through NHS England’s annual publication of early diagnosis data in England, the Case-mix Adjusted Percentage of Cancers Diagnosed at Stages 1 and 2. Early diagnosis data is published for England as a whole and for the integrated care boards. Survival data is monitored through NHS England's annual publication of cancer survival data in England. Cancer survival data is published for England as a whole, for the National Health Service regions, integrated care boards, and Cancer Alliances for 21 selected cancers. The index of cancer survival for all cancers is published for England, integrated care boards, and Cancer Alliances.
The Department recognises that outcomes remain poorest in some deprived, rural and coastal areas, where rates of early diagnosis and cancer survival are lower. To support improvement, the Government has provided £200 million of ring‑fenced funding for Cancer Alliances in 2026/27 to help the lowest‑performing trusts strengthen diagnostic pathways and reduce delays.
The Department monitors progress through regular oversight with NHS England, tracking improvements in early diagnosis and treatment standards across regions. These measures underpin our commitment to reducing geographic disparities so that a patient’s chances of survival do not depend on where they live.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the provision of NHS treatment for Functional Neurological Disorder; and what steps he will take to resolve the disparities that currently exist between regions for the treatment of this condition.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s updated Specialised Neurology Service Specification, published in August 2025, includes specific reference to functional neurological disorder (FND). It states that all specialised neurology centres must include access to treatment services for FND. The updated Specialised Neurology Service Specification is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/specialised-neurology-services-adults/
There are a number of other national-level initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with neurological conditions, including FND, such as the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and the Neurology Transformation Programme, which aim to improve care for people by reducing variation and delivering care more equitably across England.
Additionally, we have set up a UK Neuro Forum facilitating formal, which are twice-yearly meetings across the Department, NHS England, the devolved administrations and health services, and the Neurological Alliances of all four nations. The new forum brings key stakeholders together, to share learning across the system and to discuss challenges, best practice examples, and potential solutions for improving the care of people with neurological conditions, including FND.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Cancer Plan, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that there will be enough pathologists to support the Plan’s delivery.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan sets out how we will strengthen the cancer workforce, including for diagnostics, such as pathology. The plan sets out sustainable workforce growth, focused not on simply expanding numbers but on ensuring staff are properly trained, supported, and able to work at the top of their skills.
The plan sets out how we will support pathologists to work more efficiently through a £604 million investment in digital diagnostics, including digital pathology, and £96 million in the automation of histopathology, as well as further investment in digital technology and artificial intelligence. Expansion of advanced clinical practice for scientists will also improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the pathology workforce as a whole.
The 10 Year Workforce Plan will be published in spring, setting out further action to create a workforce able to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to help reduce rates of obesity in Slough.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan for England, we are taking decisive action on the obesity crisis to shift the focus from treatment to prevention and ease the strain on our National Health Service, including in Slough.
We have fulfilled our commitment to restrict junk food advertising targeted at children on television and online. We have also implemented restrictions on volume price promotions for less healthy food and drink, such as three for the price of two offers, and consulted on our proposals to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children aged under 16 years old.
We will go further by introducing mandatory reporting on the healthiness of sales for all large food businesses and setting new healthier food targets. We will also strengthen the existing advertising and promotions restrictions by applying an updated definition of ‘less healthy food and drink’. We published the updated Nutrient Profiling Model in January, ahead of consulting on its policy application.
To support people already living with obesity, we will double the number of patients able to access the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme. From June 2025, the NHS began making weight loss drugs available through primary care. Approximately 220,000 adults will be considered in the first three years with access prioritised by clinical need. We are committed to expanding NHS access and will work closely with industry and local systems to identify innovative ways to do this.
Officials in the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ South East team work closely with local partners including local authorities and the NHS to support them with local initiatives to promote a healthy lifestyle and to tackle obesity.